Should I Vote for Romney?

Posted on
September 19, 2012
by
Marty Green

Here are thoughts compiled from conversations between me and my conservative 42 year old son in Colorado...who is politically active and he provided a younger look at this election than this 69 year old could.

The primary reason I'm voting for Romney is because I recognize that my job, and the employment of many of my family members, depends on it. Right now, many businesses desperately need economic growth right now in order to become sufficiently profitable enough to re-invest in the business so as to be able to generate long-term, sustainable, growth. Obama's policies are oppressing the economy. His re-election will oppress the economy further. A Romney election would help spur economic growth because the confidence of businesses and investors would dramatically improve, and a lot of pent up desire and need to invest would be unleashed, resulting in immediate economic growth.

Will Romney govern more competently than Obama? I think so. Will he keep us out of foreign entanglements? I think that he will to the extent that is possible given America's role in the world. Will Romney govern in accordance with America's best interests? I'm confident he will.

However, separately, regarding the desire to restore constitutionally limited government, let me discuss that particular philosophy in more detail. Now, you might think my reason's above are "short term 'fixes' to long term problems", and "we need another 4 years of Obama to convince enough people to utterly reject these big government policies and come around to our way of thinking (limited government)". Here's the thing that concerns me about these ideas: If Obama is re-elected, the United States will continue, uninterrupted, down the path of societal destruction with no hope of change until 2016. We have to recognize that Obama is deliberately attempting to bring down the US, and in the process, implement Chicago style, Democrat machine politics, nationwide. His objective (as indicated by all those he has surrounded himself with throughout his entire life and in his administration), is to plunge the US into a severe crisis, to use that crisis to squash our freedoms and implement a political environment where those of us who want to preserve freedom, and restore constitutionally limited government, are effectively shut out of any power, influence, and desire to achieve such an objective. By the time we get to 2016, our society may be so dependent on government, and our freedoms so limited because of a "crisis", that anyone who really wants limited government may not be able to find an effective voice in the public square.

So I don't think we can "risk" an Obama re-election. We can't safely assume that people will "see the light" or that, if they do, we'll be able to do anything to change the direction we are going by 2016.

The simple fact is that we need to recognize that we are not going to get "limited government" through a political leadership alone. A president is not all powerful (unless he wants to be a dictator, which defeats the idea of limited government, and dictators never give up power willingly), and our political leaders simply reflect the current culture that we have. Our political leaders come from all walks of life. They are born and raised among us here in the United States. So really, they ARE us. If we want limited government, we have to create a culture that believes, not just in freedom, but in the personal responsibility required to sustain such freedom. For example, if we don't want government to have social welfare programs, we have to show that we are able to take responsibility for ourselves in our own lives, and help those who need help, on our own. Only then will we be able to convince enough people that we don't need the so-called government "safety net" such that the vast majority of people agree on, and vote for, limited government philosophy. There are a many aspects of human society that prevent the limiting of government power.

Government and political leadership has no incentive to limit power on its own, that's why it must be done culturally, not politically.

It took a long time for our culture to degenerate to what it is now, it'll take some time to restore the original, and uniquely American culture (certainly with the appropriate modernization) that made our country great. A vote for Obama risks the likelihood of "freezing" our culture into permanent degradation. Don't believe me? Look at the inner cities or the states that Democrats control. Those places, in spite of their utter cultural failure, STILL continue to vote Democrat. In some places, it's practically illegal to be a Republican (i.e. your life will be threatened if you are - go try and give a speech on self-reliance and cultural decay in an inner city neighborhood, see how long you last). This can happen on a national scale. It is the normal state of humanity. Frankly, the US is the only country where the belief in constitutional limited government has ever existed. In all other countries, there might be some debate on the size and scope of government, but it's usually a very narrow definition, and all of the political parties generally agree with big, intrusive government, they just disagree over priorities.

At least with Romney, I don't think we will have someone who has such animosity towards constitutionally limited government, and the important thing is: it buys us time to use our freedoms that we still have to influence and shift the culture in the direction it needs to go. And this is why it's very critical that we get Romney. This is why "every election is the most important election in history", because we cannot fundamentally restore America if Democrats continue to run the show, or regain power, given their demonstrated predilections.

So myconclusion is that while Romney may not restore limited government (although he has indicated some desire to do so, behind closed doors, which makes me somewhat optimistic), he buys us time against the Democrat's strategy of culturally institutionalized big government through manufactured crisis. It's up to us to restore limited government through our culture. If we have a culture that believes in limited government, then our political leadership that comes from that culture will believe in the same and will govern accordingly. In the immediate future, I believe Romney will restore more competent leadership that a least views the US positively, and that his election will help spur economic growth which is critically necessary at this point in time.